Thursday, May 29, 2014

Recommended Reading: #YesAllWomen May 30, 2014

Every week hundreds of articles are shared on Twitter and FB. This is an attempt to highlight important things that are happening around the world (and New Zealand). It won't encompass everything of course just 5 interesting articles to read. Hope you are a little bit more informed.
The horrific shootings at Santa Barbara sparked the
#YesAllWomen hashtag. At times I broke
down as I read the stories because they were horrific. I couldn't
believe it took a hashtag for me to realize that just because something isn't
rape doesn't mean it's not part of the rape culture. There are events in my life that I thought
were my fault or trivial or something I blew out of proportion in my head that
actually weren't. I made excuses, I explained it to myself, I rationalized it, I ignored it, I hoped it meant something else. Every single woman in this world has that story. And these
stories don't happen because you slept with a stranger or you met someone
online. We are abused at the hands of male friends we trusted, boyfriends we
love, husbands we have children with, fathers, brothers, the police, and our
leaders' inaction. My highest read count on my previous blog at Third culture
is still the post on rape culture in New Zealand following the Willie and JT interview and the RB saga.

So for today's
recommended reading I'd like you to read the following. Fair warning to all, this week I've read many stories and it has left me not with hate but with debilitating fear.

1. Part 1 and 2 of the stories on Writehandedgirl.org - where stories were sent in by many women. Special thanks to Sarah for making that space available.